Lily Looks Back
by yanne xx
Summary: Lily looks back at the time when she and James were at Hogwarts together. ONESHOT


**Lily Looks Back**

_Lily Potter peeks over her shoulder. Her husband, James, is playing with little Harry. They are seated on their couch. James is showing Harry little fireworks through his wand and Harry claps gleefully. Lily turns back to the box in front of her. From the box, she picks up a broken wand . . . ._

Lily Evans took off running. From the castle, she could hear noises outside and that usually meant trouble. When she reached the lake, sure enough, there were students crowded nearby. She slowed to a walk, praying it was not a trouble caused by their Head Boy again, who was, ironically, usually the cause of all mischief and mayhem along with his stupid friends. Together, they called themselves "Marauders".

"Excuse me!" Lily shouted over the uproar of voices, trying to get into the middle of the circle.

The students stepped aside, thanks to the shiny Head Girl badge pinned on Lily's chest. As Lily saw who was at the center, she made an inaudible groan.

"What's this again, Potter?" she asked the Head Boy as Severus Snape struggled to his feet.

"Why, hello there, Evans," James Potter said coolly, messing up his untidy hair. "It's just that Snivelly here – "

"Call him with his given name," Lily interrupted.

"Alright then. So _Snivellus_ – "

Not wanting to hear the rest, Lily interrupted him again. "Potter, I thought we had a deal that you won't hex, jinx or curse anyone – "

" – unless they attack me first. That's right," James answered his infuriatingly cool voice still there. "Snivellus attacked me first."

But before Lily could answer, Snape had shouted, "_Scourgify_!" and bubbles came out from James's mouth.

"Snape!" Lily yelled warningly before casting the counter-spell.

When James's mouth was free again, he bellowed, "_Tarantallegra_!"

At that, Snape began dancing uncontrollably. The audience around them roared with laughter.

"Nice one, Prongs!" Sirius Black said through uproarious laughter.

"Just thought we could use a little laugh," James replied arrogantly.

Snape, still dancing, looked rigid.

"_Expelliarmus!_" he shouted and James's wand went flying towards Snape. The Tarantallegra spell was automatically lifted. Snape sneered and dropped James's wand on the ground.

Lily's eyes widen at the thought of what he was about to do. But before Lily could shout to stop him, James's wand was broken into two. There were loud gasps from the watching crowd.

"That's twenty points from Slytherin!" Lily said, thunderstruck.

"Nice try, Snivellus," James said, relaxed. "Though because that is a very serious offense, I'm taking fifty points from your filthy House. Oh, and a week's worth of detention." He paused to think. "On second thought, maybe just a detention for five days, since I can't bear seeing your greasy face for seven whole days."

He reached for his robe and drew out a wand, very much like the broken one.

"Eleven and one-fourth inches, mahogany, with thestral hair as its core," James announced proudly. "Has another one brought like it."

Snape, red with fury and humiliation, stalked away.

James smirked.

"Have a nice day, Evans," James said, picking up his broken wand.

"I'll have to take that, Potter." Lily held out her hand, palms up, to take the wand. "I'll have Professor McGonagall to look at that. Like you said, it was a serious offense."

James shrugged indifferently and handed her hid old wand, to be submitted to McGonagall.

But the wand was never really brought to their Head of House.

_Lily smiles at the memory. She puts the broken wand down and picks up an old piece of parchment. There is something drawn on it . . . ._

"You'll be working on pairs today," Professor Slughorn told his Potions class. "Felix Felicis is a complex potion to mix. The pair who gets it done first will receive a price."

Professor Slughorn began naming students to be paired. Then finally,

"Miss Evans, you'll be working with Mr. Potter."

"What?" Lily shrieked.

Professor Slughorn smiled.

"I can't pair him up with Black, Lupin and Pettigrew," he explained. "You know how they can blow up the whole room with their potions. I can't pair him up with the other girls either. You are, after all, the only girl who doesn't swoon over him."

Lily sighed as James sat in front of her, grinning widely.

"Hey, partner!" he greeted.

As they began to work, Lily realized that James was worse than what her worst fears told her. He wasn't dumb at Potions, this did not surprise Lily. After all, he was a top student like her. But the problem with him was, he let Lily do the entire job. He did not even seem to hear her when she asked him to hand her the silver knife. He seemed to be off on his own world, writing on a parchment.

"Splendid!" Slughorn said moments later to the winners. "Perfectly made."

Lily was too mad at James to even check who won.

When the bell rung, Remus called James.

"'Bye, Evans," James said dryly, rumpling up his jet-black hair.

Lily angrily stumped her fist on the table when James and his friends disappeared from the dungeon.

When she gathered her books, a parchment caught her eye. It was what James had been working on. It was a moving sketch of him on his broomstick, smiling his lopsided grin.

She picked up her books and tucked the drawing between the pages of a book. She didn't notice it but the book she tucked the drawing in was one she bought from a Muggle store in Spinner's End, entitled, _101 Reasons Why He's The One._

_Something bumps on Lily's knees. She looks down to see Harry grinning up at her, riding his toy broomstick._

"_Hey," James whispers, sneaking up from behind her and kissing the top of her head. "Look at him. He's got the Quidditch moves of his father."_

_Together, they watch Harry as he happily ride his broomstick._

"_Hey," James says again, looking at Lily's box. "You still have this?" He picks up a very tiny – maybe about the size of a thumb – broomstick with a miniature _Comet_ carved on it._

"_Yeah," Lily answers sheepishly._

"_I didn't know you were collecting my things during our seventh year at Hogwarts . . . ."_

Lily rolled her eyes at the chaos going on in front of her. She knew she should stop it, but she couldn't take points from a Head Boy.

They were waiting for Professor Flitwick to arrive at the Charms classroom. And, because of boredom, James made a tiny broomstick and used a Levitation Charm to make it fly. It kept on poking students on its way.

Lily ignored it, and chose to read a book. She was interrupted when she felt the broomstick hit the back of her head.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed. Before the tiny toy could fly away, she grabbed and pocketed it.

"I'm going to dispose this," Lily told James.

"Oh, come on, Evans," James complained. "Don't be such a kill-joy."

But before James could complain further, the small Charms professor entered the room. Lily smiled a slight smile of satisfaction to herself.

"_I'm not," Lily says defensively. "It was just something…"_

" – _to remind you of me?" James finishes._

"_Go away," Lily says good-naturedly._

"_Sure."_

_Lily rolls her eyes as James begins to follow Harry to his nursery. Then she picks up another item. It was another old parchment with the letters L and E in capital letters . . . ._

Lily was peacefully sitting in front of the common room fire, finishing an essay about goblin rebellions for History of Magic. She yawned as she reread what she had written so far. It was pretty good, she supposed. At least she would surely earn Exceeds Expectations, or even Acceptable would be fine. She could work on it and try to make it on Outstanding if it were not for two reasons.

First, she was feeling rather sleepy and she still had to conserve her energy to patrol the corridors.

Second, no matter how hard she tried to lose herself in her essay, she still could not escape the loudest sound in the common room – the bantering of James and Sirius.

Sirius was looking at James in mock surprise, his hand over his heart. It looked ridiculous in Lily's opinion.

"I can't believe it!" he said. "My Prongs-y has learned his first two letters of the alphabet!" He wiped imaginary tears from his eyes, probably mimicking Mrs. Potter when they saw James with his Head Boy badge. "I'm so proud of you!"

James smacked the back of Sirius's head.

"Can it, Padfoot."

From her position in front of the fire, Lily rolled her eyes. What's with the weird names?

"Seriously, Prongs. We're facing economic crisis. Don't waste parchments and inks writing letters like – "

"Shut up!" James interrupted, a little too loudly.

"Fine! And I thought Wormtail was the pathetic one."

"Shut up," James said again, his voice quieter. He tucked the parchment he was writing on in between one of his books.

"Look here, mate. You've got _every_ girl in this school drooling over you – and me, actually. But the point is you might want to try getting her off your head."

Lily snorted inconspicuously. Who was this _un_lucky girl Potter was in-love with?

"I'm not like you, okay?" James answered, running his hand through his hair. "I'm not like you who snogs every girl you lay eyes upon. Besides, she's never in my head."

"Here we go again," Sirius muttered, shaking his head in disapproval. "Don't tell me she's not in your head because she's in your heart because, for your information, she won't fit."

James gave him a funny look.

"As if she would fit in my head."

"Point taken."

James's and Sirius's voice were dropping. Lily leaned a little towards their direction. She couldn't help eavesdropping.

"Well, Prongs, I know a spell that can make her shrink if you want."

"I'm serious, Padfoot."

"What?" Sirius looked confused. "I thought I was the one baptized as Sirius. Am I James, now?"

Lily laughed silently. The one who gave Sirius his name might be off his/her rocker.

Before James could strangle Sirius – because he truly looked it – Peter entered the common room.

"Prongs, Padfoot," he squeaked. "Dumbledore wants to see you."

"What did you do again, Padfoot?" James asked Sirius.

Sirius glared mockingly at James.

"Just because Dumbledore wants to see us doesn't mean I did something chaotic."

"Well, you usually do," Peter said as the three climbed out of their portrait hole.

When Lily was sure the two were gone, she went over to James's table, her curiosity overcoming her. She looked for the parchment. And then there – tucked between the pages of his book was the parchment that was filled with the letters L and E. He had even drawn hearts that was magically beating.

Lily bit her lip to keep from smiling.

"_Come here, Harry!" James calls. He is again sitting on the living room couch with a couple of photo albums on his lap._

_Harry flies toward him, a spark of excitement alights in his green eyes._

_James picks him up from the broomstick and makes him sit on the space beside him. Lily smiles as she sees that Harry's like the tiny version of James. She saw the pictures of James when he was still a baby and he was like Harry. Even their very messy hair's the same. Only difference is, Harry has not gotten his father's hazel eyes._

"_Look!" James says as he opens one album and shows Harry photos of James and Lily during seventh year and their time after Hogwarts. There are also photos of James and the rest of the Marauders._

"_Your mother was a great snob back then," James tells Harry._

"_And your father's the cause of all chaos, mischief, mayhem and wreckage at Hogwarts," Lily adds._

"_Pafoo?" Harry speaks, tapping James's arms._

"_Padfoot was with me, of course," James says._

_Harry smiles, showing his two front teeth._

"_Mooey? Woomtee?"_

"_Wormtail is, well, the quiet man, I guess," Lily answers. "And Moony is the good guy among them."_

"_Don't tell me I wasn't a good guy, too," James protests. "Remember when McGonagall made us patrol the North Tower?"_

_Lily looks down at the piece of cloth she has been holding._

"_Yeah, I do . . . ."_

"Isn't this romantic, Evans?" James said as he and lily trudged up the stairs leading to the North Tower.

"It's _not_, Potter," Lily answered irritably. "Why don't you just shut up? I might enjoy your company if you do that."

"No-can-do. Sorry, Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Just the two of us," James continued as if there wasn't an interruption. "At the North Tower, talking a heart-to-heart conversation, holding hands, kissing."

"Ew!" Lily knew James was bluffing, but she couldn't help being repulsed. "That's totally revolting."

James chuckled.

"Well," Lily said. "Who said I was going to talk to you heart-to-heart? As if there's any to be talked about anyway. And what made you think I'll hold your hand and – " Lily forced herself to say it. " – _kiss_ you?"

"You're killing my happy thoughts, you know."

Lily smirked.

"Here, I'm going to show you something," James said, grabbing hold of her shoulders.

"What?" Lily asked, not meeting James's sly yet intense gaze.

"Look at me."

"No, thank you. I've seen your face for a million times and it's already sickening." _And because your warm eyes is making me melt._

Then, without warning, James kissed her – just a peck on her lips.

"Hey!" Lily said, pushing him away.

James just grinned at her.

"Come on, Evans!" James said, now running towards the North Tower. "Don't tell me you didn't see that one coming."

"Ugh!" Lily grunted as she chased James up the staircase.

It was true. She _did_ see it coming. But she didn't even stop it.

Before she could go five steps farther, her foot slid, dragging her knee and leaving a gash.

"Ow!" she shrieked. "Potter, get back here!"

James turned and his smile immediately vanished as he saw the wound.

"Oh no," he muttered as he rushed back to where Lily was sprawled. "I'm so sorry, Lily."

"Wait," Lily said, a smile tugging on her lips. "What did you call me?"

Lily thought she saw her companion's face grew scarlet but it was so dark she couldn't be sure.

"Let me look at that," James just said quietly, holding Lily's legs with caress. It comforted the aching on Lily's knees because James's hands were soft and warm, like his eyes, against her skin.

"I'm really sorry, Lily." Lily was astonished to hear James's voice a gentle whisper.

"Just take me to Madam Pomfrey."

"But you're bleeding!"

"It'll stop."

James ignored her and ripped the end of his Hogwarts robe.

"You don't have to do that," Lily objected, blushing deeply now.

James didn't speak, too busy wrapping Lily's cut with the cloth.

"Don't stare at me like that," James complained as he saw Lily looking at him with unfathomable expression.

Lily shrugged.

"You seem very different."

"Is that a good, or a bad thing?"

"Well, if I say I like it, would that be a good thing?"

James smiled at her.

"You have no idea."

"You know you aren't as bad as what you make others see. I might even like you."

James raised his eyebrows.

"Does the wound in your knee affect your head?" he asked teasingly.

"As a friend, I mean."

"Oh."

Lily nodded, smiling.

"Well, um, can you walk, or do you want me to carry you?"

"I'll walk."

James stood up and offered his hand to Lily. Lily took it and, with wobbly knees, started to walk with James assisting her. The pain was still not subsiding, making it hard for her to walk straightly.

"See?" James said after a moment, the sly note back again on his tone. "We've had a heart-to-heart conversation, you are holding my hand, and I was able to kiss you."

"It was more of an assault, you know."

Lily could see that James was offended.

"Hey, I was joking," she said, nudging his arm.

"No. You're right."

Lily rolled her eyes, tired of all the drama. Enough was enough. Standing on her tiptoes, she crushed her lips to James's.

James was shell-shocked, but Lily didn't notice. She was tired of keeping her secret to herself. She wanted it all out. And she poured all of it to that moment. James understood. And slowly, he responded to the kiss. He dropped Lily's hand as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pinned her to the wall. Lily's hand travelled around his neck.

They didn't need words. That moment was enough to bind them together.

"_Drop that, will you?" James says. "I can't believe you still have that."_

_Lily places the cloth neatly back to the box. James then, tows her along to where harry is playing._

"_Pafoo, Momma!" Harry squeaks, pointing at Sirius's photo, waving up at Harry. "Pafoo!"_

_Lily rolls her eyes at James. At that moment, James gives her a quick peck on the lips. Lily pokes him on the ribs._

"_You always catch me off guard," she complains._

_James grins his very James-y grin._

-End-


End file.
